Mushroom Tree
| Mushroom Tree | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Type | Tree |
| Seed | Mushroom Tree Seed |
| Growth Time | Variable |
| Tapper Product | Common Mushroom; Red Mushroom; Purple Mushroom |
The Mushroom Tree is a giant mushroom that grows on the farm like a tree. It appears in two ways: from a Mushroom Tree Seed bought on Ginger Island, or by a rare change to an ordinary tree during Fall. A Tapper on it gives a steady stream of Common, Red and Purple Mushrooms. Purple Mushrooms are valuable, and the tree is one of the few farm sources of them outside the Mines. Chopping it down drops a handful of Red and Purple Mushrooms, with a slim chance of a unique hat. The tree's Tapper follows its own rules, which reward checking it on certain days.
Growing
Mushroom Tree Seeds are sold in Qi's Walnut Room on Ginger Island. The room opens once the farmer has found a hundred Golden Walnuts. Inside, the seeds cost Qi Gems at the vending machine. Each seed planted on the farm grows into a Mushroom Tree.
The other route depends on luck. From the second day of Fall, each day has a small chance of triggering a change on the farm. When it happens, the game checks a handful of random tiles. A fully grown, untapped common tree on one of those tiles, such as an oak, maple or pine, turns into a Mushroom Tree overnight. A stump on a chosen tile can become a mushroom stump instead. Any tree with a Tapper on it stays as it is, so tapping a favourite tree protects it.
A grown Mushroom Tree spreads seeds around itself, just like a common tree. Those seeds sprout into young Mushroom Trees on nearby empty tiles. Chopping the tree drops mushrooms rather than seeds, so this spreading is how a grove grows on its own.
In Winter the tree rests, and its Tapper gives nothing until Spring. Planting and protecting the trees before Fall gives the most mushrooms from each year.
Products
A Tapper on a grown Mushroom Tree fills much faster than one on an oak or a maple. In Spring and Summer, a mushroom is ready every second day. In Fall, one is ready every day. A Heavy Tapper gives no extra speed here, so the ordinary Tapper is the better choice.
The kind of mushroom depends on the last one harvested. The Tapper gives Common Mushrooms by default. Harvesting on the tenth or twentieth day of a season sets up a Purple Mushroom for the next harvest. Collecting a Purple Mushroom then sets up a Red Mushroom. During Fall, a Red Mushroom tends to be followed by another Red Mushroom. Marking the tenth and twentieth of each season on the calendar brings in the most Purple Mushrooms.
Chopping a Mushroom Tree down gives five or six Red or Purple Mushrooms, plus one more from the trunk. There is also a very small chance of the Mushroom Cap, a hat found nowhere else. Felling the tree ends its Tapper harvest, so most farmers keep their Mushroom Trees standing.
Each mushroom has its own uses. Purple Mushrooms sell for several times the price of a Common Mushroom. Eating one restores a large amount of energy and health. Common Mushrooms are a good cooking ingredient. Red Mushrooms drain energy when eaten, but crafting recipes need them.
Combining a Red Mushroom, a Purple Mushroom, a Morel and a Chanterelle makes a Life Elixir. Drinking it restores health to full, which is handy in the Mines. Red and Purple Mushrooms are also both choices for the Exotic Foraging Bundle in the Crafts Room.
Notes
To encourage Mushroom Trees, leave a few mature common trees untapped on the farm in Fall. To keep a tree from changing, put a Tapper on it.
Set a reminder for the tenth and twentieth of each season. Those harvests decide when the next Purple Mushroom arrives.
The Mushroom Cap hat comes only from felled Mushroom Trees. Chopping spare trees from a large grove is the way to try for it.
All Trees
Every entry in this group, with its key details.
| Name | Image | Seed | Tapper |
|---|---|---|---|
| Green Rain Trees | - | - | - |
| Large Log | 
|
- | - |
| Large Stump | 
|
- | - |
| Mahogany Tree | 
|
Mahogany Seed | Sap |
| Maple Tree | 
|
Maple Seed | Maple Syrup |
| Mushroom Tree | 
|
Mushroom Tree Seed | Common Mushroom; Red Mushroom; Purple Mushroom |
| Mystic Tree | 
|
Mystic Tree Seed | Mystic Syrup |
| Oak Tree | 
|
Acorn | Oak Resin |
| Palm Tree | 
|
- | - |
| Pine Tree | 
|
Pine Cone | Pine Tar |
| Tea Bush | 
|
Tea Sapling | - |